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Council approves purchase agreement on Miller ground

By Jan SchultzThe Imperial Republican If plans proceed, the city of Imperial will soon be the owner of about 75 acres of property now owned and farmed by Melvin and Dorothy Miller, east of Schroeder Park. At Monday’s city council meeting, approval was given to the purchase agreement with the Millers, as well as a $20,000 earnest money payment. The council also voted to expend $3,640 for a Phase I environmental study of the property. Cost of the entire piece of property, which includes its water allocation, is $360,000. The city expects to close on the purchase Aug. 17, said Leslie Carlholm, Imperial’s economic development director. Carlholm said the property will be used for economic development purposes, primarily for development of an industrial site. Having an industrial site readily available for potential new businesses is becoming necessary as a marketing tool, Carlholm noted. She said, at this time, there are no new business prospects for Imperial at that site. A site plan will be developed for the property, Carlholm noted, which will take into consideration the properties surrounding it. The Miller property is certified at 75.6 crop acres, according to Carlholm. The city will sell bonds to pay for the property. An ordinance on the bond sales is expected to be on the council’s July agenda. Those bonds will be paid off with sales tax money from the economic development fund. A $1 lease agreement until the end of the year, also okayed Monday, gives Miller the right to complete the harvest of his crops now planted on the ground. The council and other city officials have been meeting in closed session in recent months to work on the real estate deal. Mayor Annie Longan and Kelly Hammerlun, a member of the city’s LB 840 citizen’s advisory committee, met with the Millers to finalize the purchase agreement.

Other council business

After a hearing with no public comment, the council approved the Senior Services facilities’ budget for 2009-2010. The facilities use no local property tax dollars for its operation. During the meeting, the council gave approval to replace the damaged skylight at the Parkview complex with a roof at a cost of $2,513.39 by Spady Construction. They tabled approval of the replacement of 22 windows in the Manor.

Action was tabled to authorize a survey, paid by the city, on a piece of property Chuck Adams had deeded to the city years ago. The property deeded to the city is the drainage pond, west of Schroeder Park. In exchange for the property, the city installed curbing on the residential lots there years ago. However, a problem was recently discovered by a title company concerning the signatures on some of the legal paperwork. It was tabled so more information could be gathered.

July 1 will mark a stricter enforcement of the use of trash pickup stickers by the city. A report earlier this spring indicated city residents were increasingly putting out their trash receptacles without stickers, expecting them to be emptied then be billed by the city. It was causing a growing accounting problem, said City Clerk/Administrator Jo Leyland. Based on a council vote in May, unless residents have requested a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly pickup through the city office, they must use a sticker or the trash receptacle will not be emptied. If a resident calls the city requesting the sanitation truck come back because their receptacle was not out, they will be charged double. If a resident’s receptacle isn’t full, but they want a smaller amount of trash picked up, residents also have the option of purchasing bags to be set out for pickup.

Janiel Kimble was approved as the alternate representative on the Nebraska Municipal Power Pool. Pat Davison is the city’s regular member. Kimble replaces former council member Dustin Weiss.

Greg Dannatt was approved as a volunteer fireman for the summer, while he is home from school.